--~BIBLIOGRAPHICAL
CENTER
FORRESEARCH
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL CENTER FOR RESEARCH • 245 COLUMBINE, SUITE 212 • DENVER, COLORADO B0206THE BIBLIOGRAPHICAL CENTER FOR RESEARCH (BCR) TODAY
The Bibliographical Center for Research, Rocky Mountain Region, Inc. (BCR), is a non-profit service corporation existing to improve library and information services for all people in the Great Plains and Rocky Mountain Regions of the United States. It is the hub of a regional network linking libraries to automated literature data bases, to major computerized biblio graphic cooperatives, and to each other's resources. BCR's resource sharing concept enables participating libraries to orfer broader and more economical services than each can offer as a separate entity.POLICY MAKING
BCR is governed by a group of primary member states, which now number seven, including Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming. A Board of Trustees, consisting of the Chief Officer of the State Library Agency of each primary member state and four members-at-large, manages the affairs of the corporation. Its officers include a President, who pre sides ·over the Board of Trustees, a Vice-President, who presides over the Advisory Council, and a Secretary-Treasurer, who is also Executive Director of the corporation.
FUNDING
The Carnegie Corporation made the initial $30,000 grant which inaugurated the Bibliographical Center for Research in 1935. BCR continues to seek
federal, state, and foundation grants to initiate new services and innovative projects; however, funding is essentially accomplished by payment of fees-for services. The seven primary member states provide participation opportunity for all libraries within each state. Individual libraries and systems not located in a primary member state can contract independently with BCR for products and services. BCR adds a variable administrative charge to vendor costs for products and services to fund Center staff and operations. However, in virtually all instances, BCR's group and large volume contracts offer re duced prices to participating libraries.
BCR SERVICE PROGRAf
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1S
BCR is departmentalized into four programs each of which has a program manager. The office of the Executive Director is the Administrative program. BIBLIO provides automated technical services systems for libraries. INTERLOAN provides interlibrary loan assistance functions. METRO provides automated subject retrieval services and systems. Each of these programs is dedicated to resource-sharing for libraries. These service programs utilize modern
-2-library technology to improve the ability of participating libraries to serve their users. In the planning stage is the implementation of a major multi-state resource-sharing program that is envisioned to include document delivery among its many activities.
OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
The OED provides administrative services for BCR, including accounting services, promotional and informational services, personnel services, and records management and management information systems. The Executive Directorate exists to execute the policies of the governance structure and is responsible for the planning of research and development.
INTERLOAN
The INTERLOAN Program is an interlibrary loan clearinghouse service, with a forty-year history, that verifies (for libraries unable to do so), searches, locates, and negotiates interlibrary loans. Skilled searchers, a collection of bibliographic tools, and a 6.5 million title regional union catalog are some of the assets available. Future plans include provision of increased access to the union catalog through conversion to an on-line data base and/or microforms. In using an on-line system such as OCLC for searching, additional locations outside the region can be supplied. The OCLC, Inc. data base
searching capability provides immediate title, author, author-title, and Library of Congress card number access to bibliographic records, as soon as a book is cataloged by one of the many OCLC-participating libraries across the country.
BIBLIO
The BIBLIO Program offers access to on-line bibliographic systems with a variety of computerized library services in cataloging, searching, and other technical services. BIBLIO implementation in the region began with participation in the OCLC, Inc. System, which is a computerized on-line file of bibliographic information located in Columbus, Ohio. Participating
libraries access the data base over dedicated telephone lines using cathode ray tube (CRT) and other terminals. The mission of this network is supply ing bibliographic information to users when and where they need it.
The BIBLIO Program also offers access to BALLOTS, a bibliographic service started at Stanford University in the early 1970's. BALLOTS system access. includes full cataloging capability, card production and complete training and technical assistance.
The third sub-program of BIBLIO is the Catalog Production function, which provides bibliographic and location data in a variety of formats generated as Computer Output Microform (COM). A library may build its own data base using magnetic tapes of records it has input into any of the computerized bibliographic systems or local sytems. Output may be delivered as short title or full record formats.
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3-METRO
METRO provides libraries automated literature searching through
reference data bases that are designed to complement, but not necessarily
to replace, traditional reference services.
METRO libraries access millions of current and retrospective citations
and abstracts representing a wide range of subject areas, including all
fields of science and technology, social and behavioral sciences, business
and marketing information, patents, statistics, congressional information,
and popular interests. METRO uses the data bases of Lockheed, System
Development Corporati on (SDC), New York Times Information Bank, and Bibliographic Retrieval Services (BRS). As with the BIBLIO Program,
METRO provides training and system installation.
Libraries may utilize METRO in two basic modes. The first is the METRO
On-Site Installation, in which a library does its own computerized searching
following training, but is billed through BCR's vendor contract. The other
is the METRO Central Access, in which a group of libraries direct their
search requests to BCR for processing, and the search results are returned to the library. The latter places new technology services within reach of the smallest library application.
THE
FUTURE
BCR attempts to be an innovative leader in the field of specialized and
comput'erized services for libraries that help to provide more efficient and
better direct services to library users, and is solely dedicated to a single
principle of resource-sharing. It has fostered interlibrary cooperation
for more than 43 years in its region. As BCR looks toward the future, it will continue to develop service programs utilizing modern library technol
ogy to improve the ability of its participating libraries to serve their users. The Mountain Plains Region of the United States is sparsely popu
lated with both people and library resources. Accordingly it must work
collectively together through all of its l i braries to share materials and
to offer the kinds of services which are so sorely needed by the present and potential users of libraries.
BCR
PUBLICATIONS
Bibliographical Center for Research, Rocky Mountain Region, Inc. "List of Periodicals Published in Denver." Denver, 1941. 30p.
---"METRO Information Retrieval Network Final Report to the Colorado State Library on LSCA Project 75-111-1." Denver, BCR, 1976. 56p.
Chapman, Eulalia D. Survey of the Library Resources in Colorado. Denver, BCR, 1936-38. 115 p.
Coover, James B. Music Lexicography, Including a Study of Lacunae in Music Lexicography and a Bibliography of Music Dictonaries. Denver, BCR, 1958. 126 p.
,-4-Dibble, lone. "Certain Periodical Articles on Language Written in English." Denver, BCR. 2p.
---. Machine Translation; a Biliography. Denver, BCR. 8p.
Hardin, Floyd. A Bibliography of Richard Broma, Elizabethan Dramatist (?
cl952). Denver, BCR. 4p.
---. "Capital and Labor; the Psychology and History of the Hiddle Class and the Proletariat - a Checklist." Denver, BCR, 1938. 9p.
---. "Twelve Russian Authors; a Checklist. " Denver, BCR. 1938 . . llp. Simpson, Donald B. "BCR: A High Growth, Multi-Program, Library Service
Network." 1976. 16p.
Simpson, Donald B. and Grush, Mary. Networking for On-Line Information Retrieval Services -METRO Information Retrieval Network. Denver,
BCR, 1976. 9p.
Simpson, Donald B. "The Role of the Multi-State Cooperative in Enhancing
Library Services." 1977. lOp.
Van Male, John. "Uni on Card Catalogs in the United States; a Preliminary
List." Denver, BCR, 1938. 9p.
The following publications are available at the cost shown. We will also make invoice if necessary.
Bibliographical Center for Research. "Annual Report 1976." Free Coover, James B. A Bibliography of Music Dictionaties. Denver, BCR,
1952. 8lp. $3.00
Kitzhaber, Albert R. A Bibliography of Rhetoric in American Colleges,
1850-1900. Denver, BCR, 1954. 2lp. $3.00
Makepeace, Laura I. Rabbits; a Subject Bibliography. Denver, BCR, 1956. 8lp. $3.00
Denver, City Club. "A Report on the Bibliographic Center for Research, Rocky Mountain Region." Denver, The Author, 1944. 47p. $3.00 Oehlerts, Donald E. Guide to Colorado Newspapers, 1859-1963. Denver,
BCR, 1964. 184p. $15.00
Redfield, Gretchen. "Variable Field Tags for Serials." Denver, Colorado, BCR/Kime, 1977. $3.00
